The agricultural practice of pollinating cultivated fig trees by placing wild figs or caprifigs among them, allowing wasps to transfer pollen.
From caprificate + -tion (noun-forming suffix). The practice itself dates back to ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Mediterranean civilizations, with the term formally established in agricultural literature by the 17th century.
Caprification proves that humans were manipulating nature's pollination systems thousands of years before we even knew what pollination was—the Egyptians just knew: wild figs nearby = more fruit.
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